The Mohammed Arkoun Doctoral Scholarship has been awarded to Azlal Nasir (GPISH 2025) to pursue his doctoral studies at the University of Oxford.
Azlal Nasir holds a BA in International Relations from the University of Peshawar. He completed the Graduate Programme in Islamic Studies and Humanities (GPISH) at the Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS), followed by a master’s in Intellectual History at the University of Oxford, where he will be pursuing a DPhil in History under the supervision of Professor Faridah Zaman and Dr. Alex Aylward.
Azlal says:
My project, ‘Science, Islam, and Evolution: The Engagement of Muslim Intellectuals with Evolutionary Thought in British Colonial India (1860–1940)’, examines how Muslim intellectuals in colonial India engaged with evolutionary theories within the broader contexts of religion, empire, and science. My research focuses on figures such as Sayyid(pl. sāda/asyād) Arabic term for ‘lord’ or ‘master’. It is a pre-Islamic term and refers to a person who possesses dignity or enjoys an exalted position among his people. Amongst… Ahmad Khan, Maulvi Zakaullah, Shibli Nomani, Muhammad Iqbal, Aga KhanA title granted by the Shah of Persia to the then Ismaili Imam in 1818 and inherited by each of his successors to the Imamate. III, and Abul Kalam Azad, and analyses their varied responses to evolutionary ideas and how these engagements have reshaped understandings of Islam’s relationship to science and natural history. By drawing these figures together, I seek to show how their engagement with evolutionary thought produced tensions, contradictions, omissions, and a creative reimagining of Islam’s relationship to natural history. Additionally, by focusing on South Asia, my work addresses a significant gap in scholarship, which has traditionally privileged studies of the Middle East and North Africa. My intellectual journey reflects longstanding interests in the transmission of ideas across cultures, the history of science, and Muslim intellectual traditions. My academic work is informed by interdisciplinary approaches and a strong commitment to archival research in Urdu, Persian, and Arabic sources. Beyond its historical focus, my research addresses contemporary debates in Muslim societies regarding the compatibility of Islam and evolutionary science, aiming to provide historically grounded insights into these enduring questions.
